the performance itself

(image courtesy of the Brooklyn Academy of Music)

The above image is a picture from a 1984 performance of "Einstein On The Beach." After analyzing the music itself and imagining so many visual aspects of Einstein's life -- you can only imagine what an actual performance of this avant-garde opera might be like. "A recording cannot capture the spectacular visual imagery that Robert Wilson devised for Einstein on the Beach but it should be said immediately that this was much more than the usual uneven collaboration between a librettist and composer." -- (philipglass.com

It is said that the performance can be described as a series of "stage pictures" including a jail, courtroom, bus, supermarket, and a park bench among others. Throughout the play, the violinist of the opera (who happens to be the Einstein from the title and sports a wig and suspenders) sits in the orchestra as the chorus you hear reciting the rhythmic/melodic numbers in "Knee Play 1" comes and leaves as they please. Speaking of, Glass encourages the members of the audience to come and go as they please as well. (nytimes.com)

The images portrayed throughout the opera, as you can see above, are outrageously electic and hard to link to any particular physical being - which coincides with what I stated in an earlier post about the work literally having NO central plot or story board. Bernard Holland of the New York Times states how "People smarter than I have expended a lot of brain power trying to figure out what “Einstein on the Beach” means. I don’t think it means anything. It is majestically two-dimensional. Its references to the atomic age, criminal justice, true love, air-conditioning and Patty Hearst are merely art materials, like red paint or blue. Those who want to link it to our inner beings or to outer space are welcome to try."nytimes.com)